Circus Circus Adventuredome and Buffet

We had the kids and grandkids in town this week,following a Disney trip, and decided that it'd be fun to show them the Adventuredome at Circus Circus. We arrived about 10a and used the Valet parking. Everything was smooth as could be. Inside the Adventuredome, we learned that even a 4 year old could enjoy some of the rides, but naturally, the better ones required an adult to accompany them. That was fine and we got $2 off per wrist band, since I was a local. The rides were a bit dated, but considering that this was inside a casino and on the Strip, they syill exceeded our expectations. In general, the place was reasonably clean, organized and the employees were friendly. One thing we noticed was that the rides lasted longer, it seemed, than the rides we'd encountered at Disneyland a few days earlier.

About Noon, the grandkids were getting hungry, so despite the warnings I'd read here in the newsgroup, we decided to see for ourselves what the buffet was like at Circus Circus. To be honest, I now have a new respect for the advice that's been handed out concerning the buffet.

Getting into the buffet was easy, since there were very few people eating there. There was no line at all. The nice lady on the cash register told me that the 5 adults would be $13 each and that the 5 and 4 year old children would be $9 each. They graciously didn't charge for the 3 month old infant. We were ushered to a round table with seating for 5 people. I pointed out that we also had 3 children with us, and the lady sighed and begrudgingly showed us to a table along a booth-wall with more seating. The booth side had some sticky liquid on it, the table was only partially cleaned, there were napkin pieces under the table and a straw was in one of the chair seats. We accepted the table, since it appeared to be the cleanest one in the area, wiping down the sticky seat with napkins and water. The nice usher-lady again sighed, and left.

The age of the adults I saw was either very old and tired, or young with many children in tow. Many of the women were tattooed and I saw plenty of men wearing torn, sleeveless tees, with tall wallets secured to their belts with a chain. My guess is that many of the patrons arrived via Greyhound. The good part is that we didn't see anybody throwing up, coughing a lung out or displaying outward signs of mental illness.

I was volunteered/elected to stay with the grandkids while the parents and Mrs. Nonny went to get food. My daughter was the first to return with a plate of food, asking me, "Where's the rest of the buffet?" It seems she expected more than the incredibly small selection. The buffet area is split in the middle by the dessert area and the beverage area, with 2 lines on each side. In effect, the buffet could have 4 entrée lines, but only one side was open. . . and underutilized even then. Unless my memory fails me, the entrees consisted of grossly overcooked fried chicken (aka Chicken jerky), a pork cutlet in mystery sauce, something similar to pasta (prior to being cooked into mush) with a tomato-like sauce, a taco station (no guacamole), and SHRIMP. Wow- fried shrimp! (more on that later) There may have been more, but I don't believe there was. There may have been some vegetables, but I don't recall any.

Now, about that shrimp. . . I watched the nice cafeteria lady toss more shrimp into the tray, so I was sure they were nice, hot and fresh. Well, that was wrong. The things offered as shrimp were almost petrified, approximately 80% breading, with the shrimp core consisting of nothing more than popcorn shrimplets. They could have passed in record books as the most breading on shrimplets I've ever encountered. It was so incredible that we actually took photographs of the deconstructed shrimp-like things. How bad were they? Well, my family loves shrimp and we ate virtually none of them. My guess is that they were fried somewhere around Midnight the day before and stored in a steam tray before being reloaded into the serving steam tray. There was not even any shrimp-like flavor to the breading. Pulling the tail firmly extracted a grub-like thing that probably had been a shrimp before being cooked to a tough little nubbin inside the structural breading that surrounded it. They were room temperature, despite having been just put in the tray as I watched.

In defense of the buffet, the cocktail sauce was OK, though it was unlabeled and right next to the taco sauce, so it was a toss-up which one you got.

The worst buffet we've ever encountered, ever, in any state or any country or aboard any ship, was the buffet at Railway Pass Casino a few years back. It was under $5pp, as I recall, and we departed feeling that we had been royally screwed. I have to admit that Circus Circus almost tied that. The food selection was similar to what you'd expect residents of a trailer park to have the day prior to their welfare checks were sent out. The fried shrimp "premium food item" was mostly breading, overcooked and cold, to boot. Food was not well labeled and the presentation consisted of glopping it into the steam table trays.

During our time there, nobody came to the table to remove dishes and if a glass was refilled, it was because one of us got up and did it for the others.

We finally gave up on the entrees and tried the desserts. What a change! The desserts surely were prepared elsewhere and trucked in, since they were plentiful, delicious and were as good as those at Fiesta Henderson. Rather than the thin little slicelets of cardboard-like pie we get at Green Valley Ranch, the pie servings were generous and actually had fillings. The plates were replaced as quickly as patrons would select something and if I had to find any fault at all, it'd just be that there were very limited toppings to the ice cream. What a contrast to the horrible entrees!

Essentially, our $13 buffet meal consisted of dessert at Circus Circus and we unanimously agreed that it would be our last experience there. FWIW, nobody got sick. We returned to the rides at the Adventuredome, had a great time and then retired to the house for some of Grandpa's home cooked ribs, potato salad, red beans with rice, Andoulle sausage and banana pudding, along with some adult beverages.

Seriously, we were grossly disappointed in all aspects of the CC buffet, with the exception of the desserts. I've voiced my disapproval of Green Valley Ranch's buffet on occasion, but the CC buffet is actually worse. My recommendation for any tourists (the ones that can read) is to favor hunger over the Circus Circus Buffet.

Nonny
--
On most days,
it's just not worth
the effort of chewing
through the restraints..


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Circus Circus Adventuredome and Buffet
    ... at Circus Circus. ... ourselves what the buffet was like at Circus Circus. ... sauce, a taco station, and SHRIMP. ... almost petrified, approximately 80% breading, with the shrimp core ...
    (alt.vacation.las-vegas)
  • Re: Circus Circus Adventuredome and Buffet
    ... at Circus Circus. ... ourselves what the buffet was like at Circus Circus. ... sauce, a taco station, and SHRIMP. ... almost petrified, approximately 80% breading, with the shrimp core ...
    (alt.vacation.las-vegas)
  • Re: Circus Circus Adventuredome and Buffet
    ... and decided that it'd be fun to show them the Adventuredome at Circus ... for the advice that's been handed out concerning the buffet. ... , and SHRIMP. ... the most breading on shrimplets I've ever encountered. ...
    (alt.vacation.las-vegas)
  • Circus Circus Buffet
    ... I found myself hungry and at Circus Circus yesterday. ... try the infamous Circus Circus Buffet. ... Big Mikey had posted a review of his ... reality there wasn't a crumb of food outside of a tray. ...
    (alt.vacation.las-vegas)
  • Re: S18 Chips Contest Week 10 call for entries
    ... getting voted out will send me to the buffet. ... I'll take the jumbo shrimp;) 'sides ... Crawdads are a Louisiana thing. ...
    (alt.tv.survivor)